Archaeologists, preservationists to examine 19th-century rudder

Half-ton artifact had been foundon Vilano Beach

LORRAINE THOMPSONSpecial to The Record

Published Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Archaeologists and preservationists will attempt to answer questions about the origin and exact age of an 19th-century 13-foot-by-4-foot rudder and a smaller piece of wood now in the hands of the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum staff.

The rudder, estimated to weigh half a ton, was delivered Tuesday from the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve where it has been housed since October 2005, after it apparently washed ashore onto Vilano Beach during a storm.

Chuck Meide, director of the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, estimates that the rudder is from a merchant ship that wrecked off St. Augustine's coast in the early to mid-1800s. Meide said if funding is available he plans to take his team of divers out next summer to search for other parts of the ship, estimated to have been more than 100 feet or more in length.

The smaller piece which was found on the north beach last year and appears to have come from another ship, also was delivered to the Lighthouse. The condition of that wood indicates that it may not be as old as the rudder. Sam Turner, director of archaeology at the Lighthouse, described that piece as a wood- fastened rib of a vessel.

Museum Conservator, Kathleen McCormick, anxiously watched Tuesday as six men from the Lighthouse, the reserve and St. Johns County Recreation and Park staffs guided the rudder from a front-lift John Deere to 2-by-4s on wooden pallets. McCormick quickly called for reinforcement pieces of wood to prop under the rudder on its smaller sides.

McCormick's job is to treat the pieces in order to preserve them from further deterioration. She said she plans to gently vacuum sand off the wood using protective screening and then intermittently inject them with a combination of denatured alcohol and non-toxic PVA to stabilize them.

The next step is an intense process of photographing, recording measurements and producing scaled drawings. Samples will be analyzed in laboratories to establish the type of woods used in construction and the metallurgical composition of the copper sheathing that covers part of the rudder in order to help identify the country of origin and age of the vessels.

Marty Healey of the reserve said the rudder is officially the property of the State of Florida because it was found on a state beach. Healey said that the Florida Department of Archeological Research is allowing the Lighthouse and the reserve to research and preserve the structure. "That could take one and a half to two years," Healey said.

The rudder and the rib are now on display to the public in a covered area just below the Lighthouse.Meide said the area is being roped off and as the work proceeds visitors will be able to watch the preservation efforts. Once the preservation process is completed, the artifacts will be moved back to the reserve where they will be put on permanent display.